On July 21, 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) is set to release its Third
National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals,
detailing the latest data on the “body burden” of chemicals
carried by U.S. residents. The chemicals measured in the Third Report
include organophosphate pesticides, organochlorine pesticides, pyrethroid
pesticides, and herbicides; lead, mercury, cadmium, tungsten, and other
metals; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); dioxins, furans, and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); phthalates; phytoestrogens; and, environmental
tobacco smoke.

This is the first
CDC report to track levels of synthetic
pyrethroid pesticides, now the most widely used class of insecticides.
During a press conference, CDC director Julie L. Gerberding, MD, stated
that she was not surprised at the levels at which pyrethroids were detected
in the study given that they are used so ubiquitously in the U.S. Dr.
Gerberding did not link the exposure to any specific health effects, but
said the data would be used in further studies to track the adverse effects
of these chemicals.

The report finds the
following pesticide and/or their metabolites in greater than 50% of the
subjects tested: permethrin,
cypermethrin, deltamethrin, chlorpyrifos,
methyl and ethyl parathion, 2,4-D,
lindane, chlordane, 2,5-dichlorophenol
(moth balls) and DDT. Metabolites of the insect repellant DEET
was detected in about 10% of subjects.

Environmentalists
and public health advocates are concerned, but not also surprised by the
huge body burden of toxic chemicals presented in the preliminary report
data. “We live in a toxic world – we breathe air contaminated
by pesticide drift, eat food with dangerous pesticide residues and drink
water contaminated by leaching chemicals. At the same time that scientists
are detecting these toxic chemicals in our bodies, we are learning that
environmental illnesses such as cancer and asthma are on the rise,”
said John Kepner, project director at Beyond Pesticides. Environmentalists
say the report only reinforces the need to reduce and eliminate exposure
to these chemicals in our homes, schools
and workplaces, on our lawns and in our
food system.

Of the 48 commonly
used pesticides in schools, which include many of the chemicals CDC has
detected in the human body, 22 are probable or possible carcinogens, 26
have been shown to cause reproductive effects, 31 damage the nervous system,
31 injure the liver or kidney, 41 are sensitizers or irritants, and 16
can cause birth defects. Of the 36 most commonly used lawn pesticides,
13 can cause cancer, 14 cause birth defects, 11 cause reproductive problems,
21 are neurotoxic, 15 are kidney and liver toxicants, and 30 are sensitizers
or irritants.

CDC also finds that
people carry in their bodies pesticides that are linked to asthma, chemicals
that both cause and promote respiratory illness. In a scientific review
of the connection between asthma and pesticides, Beyond Pesticides found
that 16 million people suffer from asthma in the U.S. alone, including
1 of 8 school-aged children. Asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism
and the third most common cause for hospitalization in children under
15. Low-income populations, minorities, and children living in inner cities
experience disproportionately higher morbidity and mortality due to asthma.

The Third Report covers
the years 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 and provides blood and urine levels
for 148 environmental chemicals, including 43 pesticides, measured in
people who participated in CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES). This is an increase from 116 chemicals profiled in CDC’s
second
report, released in January 2003, and 27 in the first
report, released in March 2001. In addition to covering more substances,
the third report provides trend information for a few substances, as well
as improved breakouts by categories such as age, sex, and race.

CDC’s first
two exposure reports have demonstrated that: 1 in 12 women of child-bearing
age have levels of mercury above the EPA safe level; levels of phthalates
found in soft PVC plastic (DEHP) are higher in children than adults, and
nearly all types of phthalates, especially those found in cosmetics, levels
are higher in women than in men; and, Mexican-Americans have three times
the level of DDT in their bodies compared to non-Hispanic Whites.

Last week, the advocacy
organizations Environmental Working Group and Commonweal released a similar
study that found 287 industrial chemicals, pesticides and other pollutants
in umbilical cord blood, confirming that chemical exposure begins in the
womb. The new study, Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns, tested 10
American Red Cross cord blood samples for an unprecedented 413 industrial
and consumer product chemicals. EWG’s Vice President for Research
Jane Houlihan says that had it been able to test for more chemicals, it
would almost certainly have detected them.

For more information,
including the latest analysis of the CDC data, contact Beyond Pesticides.
To view CDC’s Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental
Chemicals, download a copy from the CDC
website.

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